We’ve barely said a word to each other since she last pulled my buried memories from my mind, intruding into the darkest parts of myself. She’s so beautifully dark, filled with so much love and anger all melded into one, and I wonder how she can be real.
I hand her my cloak, and her eyes drag over my rain-slicked clothes, sticking to my body. I hold my breath for a moment, and she averts her gaze, then whispers, “Thanks.”
It’s such an overused word by mortals, yet when it falls from her lips, my heart unexpectedly swells. How does she manage it? To be ostracized by her family and society, yet somehow the flicker of life in her eyes burns far brighter than anyone I’ve ever known.
Such a beautiful contradiction.
“They still haven’t come,” she says, and eases her way off the wall. “Drake’s right. We should look for them.”
“They will come. We are winning right now.”
Her shoulders slump. “It doesn’t feel like it.”
“You should go inside,” I say. “I’ll take over.”
Her knuckles whiten as she tightens her grip on the dagger. “I’m good here. At least I’m doing something that may actually help, instead of being in there, with only my thoughts.”
I nod in agreement. “When I was in the Darklands, I spent a lot of time alone, thinking,” I explain and pull the hood of my cloak over her head. “Sometimes to the point of insanity.” I sandwich her icy fingers in my palms and look down at her. “When it would become too much, I’d close my eyes and listen to every sound, trying to decipher what each one was. I found it cathartic.”
“Isn’t it all tortured screams and crying in the Darklands?” she asks, and I almost smile.
“Occasionally,” I state. “Mostly, I can hear the haunting melody from the forest, and the winds dragging leaves across the grounds.”
My breath hitches when she curls her fingers around mine, the orange hues from the sun slathering her skin in a beautiful glow. Her body presses against mine, her heart hammering when she looks at me with those softening eyes.
I’m dying to kiss her. Just once.
She closes her eyes, taking in the heavy pattering of the rain, but it only lasts a minute before she opens them again. “I can’t breathe sometimes, knowing Ari’s out there somewhere.”
“She is alive,” I say, choosing my words carefully, because I cannot promise that she is unharmed. “When she returns, I will get you both out of here.”
“And Drake?”
The muscle in my jaw feathers when I think about him. “He is a traitor.”
“So am I. We did the same thing.”
I pause, not knowing what to say. “What would you have me do, Calista? The Harvest can only have one winner.”
“Break the rules.”
I smirk as she grows closer, her hands running over me in an obvious manipulation. Against all my instincts, I push her away. “You’ll have to try harder than that.”
“I know you have a heart under there,” she says, bringing her hands to my chest, my heart racing under her splaying fingers.
I lean down, bringing my lips to her ear, “I told you before, Poison. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I am good.”
“I don’t think that,” she points out. “None of us are innocent, but I believe that behind the monster lies just a man who is deeply hurt.”
My eyelids flicker, her touch suddenly so uncomfortable that I would tear off my skin to be away from her. I step away, my jaw clenching in warning when she attempts to get close again. “You do not know me.”
“You’re afraid.” Her words shoot through me like an arrow.
“I’ve never been afraid,” I warn, but she invades my space again, shadows tearing from her fingers, evoking my own.
“Liar,” she hisses.
“What about you, Poison?” I ask, and her eyes darken. “What are you scared of?”
“You,” she admits, then lifts her dagger between us, and I lean into the blade. “Is that what you want to hear?”
“Are you trying to seduce me?” I ask and drag my thumb over her plump, red-rose lips. “So I will free your friend from his oath?”
Her chest rises and falls as her breaths grow uneven. “Is it working?”
I draw nearer until her lips are only an inch from mine. My hand slides around the back of her neck, and I hold her still, my gaze piercing into hers. “Don’t tease me if you don’t plan on doing anything about it,” I whisper hoarsely, my resolve crumbling with a brush of our lips. She tiptoes, her eyes closing. “Because I will not hold back.”
“Then don’t.” She licks her lips, her fingers waltzing to my thighs, and I struggle in a breath as she lifts my shirt, her icy tips contacting my skin.
Her shadows dance around us, heightening my own powers. Does she even know what’s happening to her? Her magic is out of control.
Goosebumps prick over my arms when I hear footsteps dragging through the wet leaves. I almost missed it, over the sound of my thumping heart.
“Quiet,” I whisper, the focus returning to her eyes.
My lips part as the sister walks out from the trees. They’re finally here.
THIRTY-SIXCalista
